(CNN) - Vice President Joe Biden sat down with a Cuban media outlet - a significant move given the decades-long tension between the United States and Cuba since the countries ended diplomatic relations more than 50 years ago.

In the interview published Tuesday, Biden cited the detention of Alan Gross, an American jailed in Cuba, as a key obstacle in improving relations.

(CNN) – A day and a half after a shooting rampage in California left six victims dead, Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Sunday the tragedy serves as a reminder of the legislative efforts to stem gun violence that occurred in the aftermath of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting.

The Democrat from Connecticut, appearing on CBS’s "Face the Nation," said statements from the California victims' families bring the nation back to "when it seemed like we were on the verge of, potentially, legislation that would stop the madness and end the insanity."

(CNN) - Jon Huntsman, former U.S. ambassador to China, said the indictment alleging five members of the Chinese military hacked American businesses is a "symbolic" move by the United States and will do little to curb the intellectual property theft.

(CNN) - Congressional chairmen of the House and Senate veterans affairs committees are still backing embattled VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, for now, amid a growing chorus of lawmakers calling for his resignation over the scandal that's rocked the agency.

Rep. Jeff Miller, a Republican from Florida and chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, told CNN's Candy Crowley on Sunday that the issues with the VA are "much larger than the secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs."

(CNN) - President Barack Obama alluded to the growing scandal unfolding within the Veteran Affairs Department in his weekly address, acknowledging the agency's crippling shortfalls in providing health care.

"In recent weeks, we’ve seen again how much more our nation has to do to make sure all our veterans get the care they deserve," he said in a White House video released Saturday that coincided with the Memorial Day weekend.

(CNN) - Former Veterans Affairs chief Jim Nicholson said President Barack Obama is "not taking responsibility" for the ongoing scandal that has rocked the agency under his administration's watch.

In an interview on Friday with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Nicholson also hit back at Obama’s sharp criticism of his tenure leading the VA, calling into question the former senator’s commitment to the cause when he severed on the Veterans Affairs Committee.

(CNN) - Democrats in a three high-profile 2014 races are calling for embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign over a scandal that has rocked his agency and again placed the spotlight of scrutiny on the Obama administration.

Alison Lundergan Grimes, running for Senate in Kentucky, and Charlie Crist, seeking to regain his old job as Florida governor, are going beyond sentiment expressed publicly by Democrats in Washington, who are overall sticking with Shinseki so far.

They were joined on Friday by Michelle Nunn, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Georgia.

(CNN) – Invoking the heated racial controversy triggered by basketball’s Donald Sterling, the U.S. Senate has stepped up pressure on the NFL to force the Washington Redskins to change their name.

Fifty senators, all Democrats, have signed a letter released on Thursday by Majority Leader Harry Reid that urges pro football’s commissioner, Roger Goodell, to take action over concerns that continued use of the Redskins brand is offensive to Native Americans.